Don’t take this the wrong way, ABC, but what the frak is Castle doing having a panel at San Diego Comic Con? You’ve got to wonder what comic book fans across southern California (or, frankly, the whole country) think about the Movie & TV-ification of the beloved convention. Castle‘s panel this year is just another in a line of head scratching inclusions to the event (Glee? Seriously?). In this case, though, the reasoning behind the move can probably be summed up in two words: Nathan Fillion.
Ole’ Captain Tightpants himself has been a genre mega-star since Firefly and Serenity. Add Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog into the mix, and it is a surprise that they don’t have FilliCon scheduled already. None of his roles, though, have had nearly the success of ABC’s mainstream hit Castle, which begs the question: Which role will he most be remembered for?
A couple of our fellow ‘Clackers weighed in:
RUBY: For me, definitely Mal — but to be fair, I haven’t seen the other shows (beyond maybe two episodes of Castle).
BOB: As much as I loved Firefly, I think I might have to go with Captain Hammer here. Dr. Horrible was a cultural touchstone, and hopefully all that talk of a sequel will come to fruition soon.
KONA: I’ve got to say Castle. At the end of the day, nobody watched Firefly, and Castle is awesome.
JULIA: Oh, SNAP, Kona … I’m really torn between Mal and Captain Hammer. Mal’s the role that started his career, but, I mean, “the hammer is my penis?” How can any role that let him say that line not be classic? Oh, conundrums.
RUBY: [re: nobody watching Firefly] It allegedly performed well on DVD. (Sorry, that’s a little joke for the Stargate fans).
KONA: I’m not trying to bag on Firefly … I saw Serenity opening weekend, but more people probably know him from Desperate Housewives.
BRETT: If it’s the most memorable role, I would think it will end up being Castle. Firefly simply didn’t have enough episodes to give it the crazed syndication power of Buffy or Angel. It will pop up from time to time, but it’s not going to be in constant rotation the way those two have been. And getting a horrible movie on the tail end doesn’t add much to it. Castle, on the other hand, already has about three times the episodes of Firefly, with more on the way, and it’s much more syndication friendly. I fully suspect it to show up on TNT one day and play over, and over.
As for Doctor Horrible, it was a big deal … but only to Internet nerds/Whedon fans. When I saw your initial email [about the poll] I asked a few people here at the shop if they knew what Doctor Horrible was and they had no idea. Captain Hammer is huge for a very, very, small part of the media consuming population. In the bigger picture though, it’s a non event.
IVEY: [Not having planned on jumping in on my own post but I couldn’t let that one just sit out there] I’m not saying it was a cinematic masterpiece, but I think calling Serenity horrible is overreaching to the extreme.
BRETT: Actually, “horrible” was me being nice, in case Cooper was reading over Kona’s shoulder.
Opinions of how Serenity worked as a movie aside, which role do you think Nathan Fillion will be best remembered for? Let’s not forget Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Shop, the canceled too early Drive, or his turn as the man who made Xander on Buffy look like a pirate.
Clacked by Ivey West 
on Jul 14, 2010 @ 16:00 EST5EDT
Well, let a woman decide. It’s a guy, so its the doability factor. Face it, Fillion is doable in any situation, but Mal is a stunner. Great bad boy snark and hotness going on. I think his character in Drive would have kicked ass if that show had been given a chance to, you know, END properly. But Castle is a nice tame choice. Hes a good guy and still doable. So, there ya have it.
Mal for sure. Because of that role I root for him in all his endeavors.
My thoughts exactly. The other shows were good, esp. Dr. Horrible, but the reason I’ll watch *nearly* anything with him in it (Fuck You desperate housewives!!) is because I’ve seen what he’s done in Firefly, and that made him the god of underappreciated actors.
Had to vote Caleb because that’s where he started, the whole season was built around him and it was just creepy :-)
*POST AUTHOR*
You’ve got me a bit confused. Season one of Firefly and Season Seven of Buffy aired at the same time. He was Mal before he was Caleb. Plus, he was given the role of Caleb after Firefly was canceled. And I don’t think, as the henchman of the First Evil, that you can say the season was built around him?
Well – not here in Germany :-)
Firefly first aired in germany in 2009 (!) and then only on Saturdays at 10pm on a third rate Network. Serenity aired before that, first in 2007 but as a Movie on TV.
Back when Season 7 of Buffy originally aired it took me three days to get the newest episode and to be honest I didn’t even know about Firefly. I wasn’t even a fan of Buffy until I watched it on DVD (hated it in German – my GF loved it in 1999 and I kept making fun of it). I guess it was in 2002 when I picked up the first Season DVD set (those 13 episodes) for half price on Amazon because I wanted to know if it was any good in English. I was instantly hookey.
Oh and that “It was built around him” – to be honest I didn’t think that he was a henchman of the first evil. He was so good in that role that I always remember that Season’s evil as being him (Caleb) not anything or anyone else (well mabe a stone circle on the ground). Maybe I’m not remembering it that well at all it’s just if you’d ask me today who the baddie on that season was I’d say Nathan Fillion as the guy who squished Xander’s eye.
Hope I could get the reasons across. That’s why I wrote “I had to vote Caleb” because that was the first role I saw Fillion in and instantly liked the guy even though he played a villain.
Well you know what they say about opinions: Everybody has one, but only Tom’s is right. Well, at least that’s what they say in my head.
It’s Captain Tightpants all the way. He aims to misbehave and be a big damned hero at the same time. For its criminally short run, Firefly has a huge number of quoteworthy lines. I’ve loved Nathan Fillion in everything he’s done, but he’ll always be Mal to me. Fillion also provides many very entertaining tweets which shows that a lot of his personality comes through in many of his roles.
Brett: Calling “Serenity” horrible is fightin’ words, mister! To quote John Wayne, “Fill your hands, you sonofabitch!”
Been a big fan of Nathan Fillion for a while, but I had to go with Castle here for a couple reasons:
1) He single-handedly makes that show.
2) It’s a hit on network television, so many more people have seen it than the other choices (except 2 Guys and a Girl, which few people likely remember – oh and by the way, that was where he got started, not Firefly).
3) I feel like the character is most similar to what I envision Fillion being like in real life. Mal was a very interesting character, but that show is set in the distant future so there might not be a lot of people like that in the real world. Captain Hammer was easily his funniest role, but obviously played for laughs and not terribly realistic. With Castle, I see flashes of both those characters, as well as somebody I could see meeting in real life.
I never really click with Mal so… Captain Hammer all the way!!!
Richard Castle! There’s not a show that I love more than Castle. The chemisty between Nathan and Stana Katic is awesome and the show is just fun. I hope it will be on for many more years!
Erm…why no Bill Pardy of “Slither”? Not only did the man successfully fight off a particularly nasty alien infestation in his otherwise quiet little home town, he did so by grabbing hold of Michael “Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer” Rooker’s family jewels (yes, they were somewhat distended and alienificiated, but they were still his bollocks!) Now THAT surely makes for his most memorable role?!
He will always be Joey Buchanan….
I can’t believe there is actually a debate over this.
He’s our Captain Tightpants. Always has been, always will be. =D
Capt Mal is to Fillion like Indy was to Ford.
Obviously one was a much bigger commercial success but i think the actors are more passionate and excited to play their respective characters before any other.
You can tell Fillion is enjoying castle, both the success and fun of it but if he were given the choice… Captain Mal would ride again.
DRATW
You guys lost some points with me. You spelled Xander’s name withe a Z. Xander is short for Alexander.
*POST AUTHOR*
Oh, wow, I am SO fired. I have no idea how I let that slip. Lemme get that fixed :)
I feel better now.
Yikes! I was on vacation to miss that, that’s my excuse! Ivey, you’re out of my will!
*POST AUTHOR*
You’d think, considering I just finally got caught up on Buffy S8, that I wouldn’t have missed that in the first place … #dorvfail
Well of course I noticed that, but I figured I wouldn’t nitpick. But while we’re at it, it’s not “Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Shop“, Ivey… ^_^
Nathan will always be Malcolm Reynolds.
And Brett, kiss my ass.
I would not be so hard on Brett, he’s the resident numbers guy and almost always gives the dispassionate analytical answer.
As much as I’m a sucker for all things Dr. Horrible (far more than Buffy, at times)…it’s Mal that I think of when I close my eyes and think of Fillion’s face. Browncoat forever, that boy.
-Tara
I voted for Castle, but my heart will always belong to “Capt. Tightpants”! More people may remember Castle, but Mal was a one-of-a-kind character.
*POST AUTHOR*
Wow, did Castle ever make a crazy comeback, eh?
What is crazy is that the Firefly-fans couldn’t fight back!
“Memorable” to me doesn’t necessarily mean the same as “popular”. Some of the comments in the article seemed to say that since more people are watching “Castle”, Castle is his most memorable character.
I guess I translate the question to this: Regardless of program popularity, which was his defining character?
My answer to that is a resounding Mal.
The choice is easy. MAL all the way. He was heroic, but at the same time he stayed human. He wasn’t larger than life.
Castle was fun until Demming arrived. :(